Tornadoes in Alberta already up more than 50 per cent from last year

Tornadoes in Alberta already up more than 50 per cent from last year

Dry, wet and windy weather conditions may be behind a higher level of tornadoes across the Prairies.

There’s already been more tornadoes than usual in Alberta and researchers say the season could just be getting started.

Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor tells CBC News there have been 48 tornadoes across Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan so far this year. Alberta has seen 23 of those tornadoes, up from 15 in 2025.

The most recent were two separate tornadoes that injured three people on Thursday when they passed through a campground in Dillberry Lake Provincial Park.

Proctor said there are still six weeks of tornado season left, with future tornadoes still possible in the near future.

“It's been a very active year,” said Proctor.

David Sills, director of the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) at Western University, said this year has seen the most tornadoes in the Prairies since the 1980s.

“Sometimes a lot of things happen at the beginning of the season and then not much happens at the end,” said Sills.

“But if this pace keeps up through June, July, August, we could be looking at some record numbers of tornadoes here for the Prairies.”

The exact cause of the increase in severe weather is difficult to determine, said Proctor, but he believes it is likely related to recent weather conditions.

The contrast between Edmonton’s heavy rainfall and the high levels of fire weather activity in the Northwest Territories creates a “consistent flow pattern,” he said.

Environment Canada predicts severe weather by monitoring moisture, weather instability, sudden and drastic shifts in wind speed and direction, and weather triggers.

“So what really had happened across the Prairie provinces is a very consistent sort of flow pattern, very consistent storm track and an atmosphere that's been preconditioned to produce thunderstorms,” said Proctor.

Vicious storm in central Alberta results in 2 tornadoes, sends 3 people to hospital

Thunderstorms often do not create enough wind shear to spin into tornadoes, he said. This year, there was.

Sills and his team are investigating the damage from the recent tornado in Dillberry Lake Provincial Park. He said the damage path from that tornado stretches from Killarney Lake in Alberta to Long Lake in Saskatchewan.

“Pretty substantial damage, a lot of trailers that were either tipped over or destroyed,” said Sills.

The NTP is still working on determining a damage rating for the tornado, Sills said their findings should be posted on their Facebook page this weekend.

Serra Hamilton is a reporter with CBC News in Edmonton. She has previously worked as a reporter for Cabin Radio in the NWT and for The Signal in Halifax. She can be reached at serra.hamilton@cbc.ca.